Part Of A Bigger Picture

Not everyone realizes that THE THIN MAN television series from 1957
starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk is a part of the tragic story
representing the final chapter of a legendary studio. For years MGM
studio boss Louis B. Mayer believed television to be a passing fancy
and said it would never last. He refused to acknowledge the medium was
a permanent phenomenon and the wave of the future. He never recognized
it for what it was and for what it would eventually mean to the
entertainment industry.

The movie studio system was beginning to dissolve by the mid 1950's and
musicals, MGM's signature product, was on its last legs, too. As
television gained ground against movies, Mayer remained in complete
denial about the medium. He ridiculed it and said it would never last.
Even after Mayer was replaced by Dore Schary in the early 1950's who
brought in a completely different view of picture making, television
wasn't part of the equation. MGM did launch THE MGM PARADE, a weekly
television variety show hosted by George Murphey, but it was a bleak
attempt to recycle the studio glory days and shriveled up quickly. THE
THIN MAN series in 1957 was a weak attempt to gain a foothold in
television by flipping pages from the William Powell--Myrna Loy 1930's
photo album. But MGM failed to create anything fresh for the new medium
and the studio's efforts were too little, too late.

As a show, THE THIN MAN was a perky, but superficial recreation of the
Powell--Loy classic. Though Lawford, Kirk, and Asta were pleasant, the
show flopped. In contrast to all of the aforementioned, consider what
WARNER BROTHERS was doing at that same time: recognizing the impact of
getting into every living room in America by producing television
shows. For WARNER BROTHERS wisely began churning out a cavalcade of
productions--particularly westerns and detective shows that capitalized
on the era's programming trends. MAVERICK, SUGARFOOT, LARAMIE, 77
SUNSET STRIP, HAWAIIAN EYE, SURFSIDE SIX, BOURBON STREET BEAT,
CHEYENNE, COLT .45--all were WARNER BROTHERS productions. The corporate
market share must have been staggering. The successes of those shows
bolstered WARNER BROS. for years.

By the late 1960's, MGM was caught in the winds of change. The final
nail in the coffin occurred when congress decreed that studios could no
longer own movie theatres. Las Vegas Hotel magnate Kirk Kerkorian
purchased MGM primarily for its trademark name and Culver City real
estate. He later issued a statement that the studio was now a
relatively insignificant producer of motion pictures. MGM tore down its
legendary back lots and sold the land. Then it auctioned off many
collectibles from its vast studio archives. Since then MGM has been
bought and sold by so many people there is not enough space here to
list either the names or corporate intrigue (even Ted Turner took over
and couldn't make a go of it).

THE THIN MAN wasn't just another innocuous 1950's television series
that bombed. It is a deceivingly important piece of the story of a
great studio beginning a slow descent into oblivion. By failing to
recognize that one either adapts to change or becomes extinct, MGM made
a catastrophic miscalculation. This is not to say that failure to
produce television shows was the primary reason for a great studio's
collapse, for other important issues were most assuredly at play. But
THE THIN MAN represented just one example of a once great studio
falsely believing that sitting on the laurels of past successes holds
the key to future survivability.

Dennis Caracciolo

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22 out of 24 people found the following review useful:

Ah, yes, I remember it well

I was a child when "The Thin Man" was on television but for some
reason, I remember it very clearly. I think I was completely captivated
by the sheer sophistication of Nick and Nora Charles and the fact that
they lived in an apartment in New York City. Growing up in a house and
not in New York City, this was fascinating to me.

What I remember most is how beautiful Phyllis Kirk was and what
glorious clothes she wore. I wish I could see this series today to find
out if it's as I remember it. Kirk and Lawford seemed a most glamorous
couple, and I have a feeling their relationship colored my own ideas
about an ideal marriage - rich and childless.

This show was an attempt by MGM to get into TV and capitalize on one of
their properties, and it didn't make it. Many years later, I had a
chance to see the wonderful movies on which the series was based. I
can't draw a comparison because I only remember the clothes and
sophistication from the TV show. I guess that says something.

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:

One of my favorite memories of my youth...

This show was one of my favorites as a kid growing up in suburban
Maryland. I was lucky enough to get home from elementary school just in
time to catch the reruns every afternoon along with OH SUSANNAH with
the Team of Gale Storm & Zasu Pitts...The Thin Man Came on afterward
and it made a great double bill each afternoon. Mr. & Mrs. North with
Richard Denning was also in the mix. Phyllis Kirk and Gale Storm were
two of the prettiest women in the world to me at the time (Gale Storm
singing "Tropical Heatwave" was a source of many wonderful dreams as a
child...wink, wink, nudge, nudge...), even allowing for the below the
knee fashions of the time. Phyllis was tall and oh so sexy in her short
hair do's and long, lanky legs with those marvelous high heels. Peter
Lawford was so suave, that I always wanted to be Nick Charles whenever
I had the opportunity, like at "Teen Club" with the ladies, between
classes with the ladies, etc. I was too young to know about the the Rat
Pack, but of all of those guys, Lawford was the coolest, to me. His
understated manner, and matter of fact conversational delivery of his
lines were far ahead of his time, and made him one of my favorite
actors of the time, and this show, the one I'd most like to see brought
back on a DVD. of course, that one episode of OH SUSANNAH with Gale
singing " 'Heatwave" would be nice, too!

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11 out of 16 people found the following review useful:

Would Like To See This Again Now . . .

In the early '60s before TV ad rates became astronomical and before
small local stations joined large syndicated networks, the airwaves
were full of old movies and TV series reruns because no one much cared
about the ratings during off hours. Among the antique TV shows from the
early and mid '50s that were endlessly repeated were (probably
terrible) chestnuts like MY LITTLE MARGIE, OH, SUSANNAH!, PRIVATE
SECRETARY, THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE, AMOS 'N' ANDY, THE LIFE OF RILEY,
December BRIDE, TOPPER, I MARRIED JOAN, OUR MISS BROOKS, LOVE THAT BOB,
and one that I remember especially fondly, THE THIN MAN starring Peter
Lawford and Phyllis Kirk and with the sexy and incomparable Nita Talbot
in a recurring role.

I remember virtually nothing about it except the impressions it left me
with: Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk seemed dry, pleasant and
sophisticated and had a nice chemistry together. I knew nothing of
Powell and Loy and the original series of films at the time, so Lawford
and Kirk seemed delightful. And even in childhood, I LOVED Nita Talbot,
who guested on lots of other series of the period. Tall, with a model's
figure and bearing, she usually wore a Veronica Lake pageboy and had a
wry, slinky beauty which suggested a cross between Lauren Bacall and
Anne Francis. But her voice was honking and grating and she had a N.Y.
accent as thick as a slice of corned beef. The incongruity was
delicious and she was wonderful.

The only plot I remember in the series was one in which it was implied
that a murdered woman (I seem to remember her as a waitress) had been
hacked to pieces and hidden in a trunk -- precisely the kind of grisly
detail a child would remember.

While I'm willing to believe this series was awful (certainly most or
all of the others I listed must have been) I'd love to see several
episodes again, and I'd love to know whatever happened to Nita Talbot.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Charm of its leads

After Dear Phoebe left the air after one season, Joseph P. Kennedy was
behind a second television show for his son-in-law Peter Lawford. The
famous Thin Man series was adapted to a half hour television format and
Lawford played Nick with Phyllis Kirk as Nora. Of course Asta was
around as well. No children however for the Charles as were introduced
in the six film series for MGM.

Lawford and Kirk were really up against it. William Powell had just
retired and Myrna Loy was still active. People remembered the most
famous screen couple ever created. Additionally and this is my own
personal opinion, mysteries are no good in a half hour format, you need
at least an hour to develop plot and alternative suspects.

Still The Thin Man on television was entertaining and got by on the
charm of its leads.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

LOVED the TV version!

Never saw the original Thin Man until recently when I bought the set,
ALL of the William Powell and Myrna Loy films. I loved them but felt
oddly disappointed, and didn't know why. Also, the series that I
thought I loved seemed oddly unfamiliar.

There is ONE episode of the Lawford/Kirk TV Thin Man on the final disk,
the one that includes a biography of Powell, another of Loy. Seeing
this single episode made me realize that my nostalgia for The Thin Man
was actually for the TV series, not the original. I had never before
seen the original. Seeing that single episode of the Kirk/Lawford TV
version REALLY brought it all back! It was light yet engrossing, with
good production values for the day and a plot that really kept my
attention.

Both versions have great charm, but I still like the TV series better.
If Acorn or Movies Unlimited or some such company were to issue a set
of the TV version, I'd buy it in a heartbeat! IF ANYONE READING THIS IS
IN THE OLD MOVIE DVD INDUSTRY, PLEASE OFFER THIS!

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:

Why no DVDs?

I agree with Alice. Why is no one putting out a DVD collection of this
wonderful TV program? I am a devotee of the William Powell, Myrna Loy
classics; this is to underscore that for me, the Peter Lawford, Phyllis
Kirk re-working of "The Thin Man" requires no apologies for its
contemporaneity. There were seventy-two episodes (twenty-four a
season), far more than I had guessed. For those of my generation (these
episodes ran during my junior high school years), there is doubtless a
dear nostalgia for the time; but there is a smooth sophistication here
which I am noting many much younger people are beginning to
re-appreciate. The exigencies of DVD production has long made me wonder
at the odd and inexplicable choices. Some awful turkeys show up both in
single releases and in compilations, as fine productions are
overlooked.

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4 out of 9 people found the following review useful:

A bit of a classic

I remember this series so well. I was 5 years old. It seems there are no
prints of this series. I think the dog was called Rusty. The show just
had
class and Peter Lawford, the star.
Anyone with information please make contact

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6 out of 15 people found the following review useful:

The dog's name was Asta.

I also watched and loved this show when I was five. The dog's name was
Asta. The show was based on Dashiell Hammett's novel, The Thin Man. A
series of movies based on the book came out between 1934 and 1947, with
William Powell and Myrna Loy.